ST. MARYS, Ga. -- A seventh grade teacher at St. Mary's Middle School loves her students, but also demands their respect. Beth Warren was Teacher of the Year and she's our Teacher of the Week.

Ms. Warren teaches seventh grade Gifted Language Arts and she knows how to get her student's attention in class. She said with gifted students, especially middle school, their minds work so quickly you've got to be very interactive and on top of it.

"To me, the most important thing a teacher can do is build that relationship, especially with middle school. If you don't build a relationship they're never going to buy into what you're teaching," said Warren.

Warren said it works. Seventh grader Bailey Patterson nominated Warren for Teacher of the Week. In her letter she wrote, 'She is the best teacher in the universe to me because she is very experienced and loves me and all of her students very much.'

"She is a very influential person. I think she's inspired me to write so many things. She inspired me to get out of the box," said Bailey.

Her students want to be the best they can be because they have a teacher who really cares for them.

"I can not imagine anything that means more to me then my students know I love them. That relationship is so important," said Warren.

Warren has been teaching for 30 years. It's a career she came back to because she knew this is where she makes a difference.